Saturday, September 30, 2006

Drama on the Set

This week has been an interesting week. It ended just now with me locking myself out of my apartment, and of course my roommate is out of town. Afrah was here visiting, and we were leaving to go walk down Santa Monica Blvd. I locked the door from the inside, and as soon as I shut the door, I instantly realized I left my keys on my desk. I said a bunch of four letter words, and then remembered that my roommate had hid a spare key somewhere in the lobby. I found it, and of course the damn key didn't work. So, what do I have to do? I have to go around the back and take the screen off of my window and climb through the window. The only thing is, my window is about 10 feet off of the ground, since I live on a hill. Luckily, there is a staircase next to my window. I got the screen off, then kind of had to jump from the staircase to the window and crawl through, all while Afrah is snickering in the background. But, I did it. Then I quickly came to the realization that if I can take my screen off and climb through my window, then anyone can! It's a good thing I don't live in South Central!!

As for my work week, it started off with me working on The O.C. All I can say is that I think that show is going down the tubes? Does anyone even watch it anymore? I never have. The show struggled last season in ratings and whatnot. We were shooting on location at a high school. They have these 15 year old girls on the show now with dialogue that sounds like it comes straight from Laguna Beach. It just seems bad, and it wasn't really an exciting day at all. At the end of the day we shot a scene with Adam Brody and he seemed like he didn't even want to be there. He was acting like a diva and I was really unimpressed. Oh well.

Yesterday I worked on a new show called Brothers and Sisters with Sally Field, Colista Flockhart, and some other people that are well known, from what I've heard, but I didn't recognize them. The only one I knew working yesterday was Sally Field. The whole day was TERRIBLE!! First of all, this show is taped at Disney Studios in Burbank. I thought Disney was all about family, happiness, etc. YEAH RIGHT. First off, were kept in the basement of one of the studios. No windows. No cell phone reception. No any anything. Then, the wardrobe lady went on a rampage yelling at everyone. She was mean as hell, psychotic actually. They didn't have a lot of food for us. The whole day was messed up. When we started shooting, I noticed there was some tension on the set. Sally Field came in and she was nice looking and tiny. She looked really motherly, and I heard from someone that she was really nice. But man, she was in a bad mood that day.

Sally was being real snippy with the director, and it was more her body language than anything. She wasn't being outright mean. Someone I met that day, who had worked on the show, mentioned that some of the cast members didn't get along, then everything made sense. I'm sure Sally isn't that stand-offish normally, but it was the first time I have been on a set where the cast members didn't get along. By the end of the day the tension was really thick. Some of the other cast members were yelling and the director looked relly stressed out. All we could do was laugh since the day had been so miserable. It was a 13 hour day too. I never want to go to Disney again. They suck over there.

Maybe next week will be more interesting, especially since I'll be on four tv shows. I wish I had Showtime so I could watch Dexter. I'll definitely be on Vanished on Monday and hopefully Help Me Help You on Tuesday.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Sorry For the Mix Up

Something must have gone wrong. Either they ran a re-run one week or the show didn't come on one week, but it got pushed back a week. I will be on Vanished for sure on Monday, October 2 at 9 pm on Fox.

Sorry for the mix up.....it's not my fault!

The Most Fun Weekend So Far!

So, as you know from my last blog, I've been working on the set of the movie Transformers for the last 2 days. And as you can see on the left, it's set to be released on Independence Day 2007. It's directed by Michael Bay (The Island, The Rock) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg! This is going to be a huge movie with a lot of action and special effects. They have a $150 million budget.


In this movie I played a police officer. I don't even know where to start. There was so much action and I met the craziest lady in the world. More on her in a second. Tyrese and Josh Duhamel are both in this movie. I met and talked to them both and they were really cool, especially Josh. They just talked as if we were regular people, which we are. Ellen Pompeo needs to realize that!


There was a lot of action. They were blowin trucks up and bringin choppers in. It was really cool. I was right in the middle of the action. I got to drive the cop care right up to the scene of destruction where the robots are battling, jump out of the car with two of my deputies and control the frantic crowd. We were really acting too because there were obviously no 40 foot robots in front of us. They're all going to be added in during editing. But the scene was set up with burnt up cars and a big hole in the ground (which was made by a big pile of foam asphalt. And there was more smoke than anyone needs to encounter, as if Los Angeles needs that crap added to the already gag inducing smog.


Now for the crazy lady. I think she is the weirdest one yet! First of all, she is a sci-fi trekky. She's African-American and from about an inch above her ear down, her head is shaved. Above that she has these long dread locks that go half way down her back, pulled into a pony tail. And she has these wire rim glasses on that looks like they're straight from 1750, like something Benjamin Franklin would wear. She looks like Whoopi Goldberg basically, like the pic on the right, just skinnier. She tells me that she's in fact not an actress, but she is in LOVE with Transformers. She has a friend who knows one of the producers of the movie and got her on. So, we're about to go to set and somone says they see a model of one of the robots, and Pam (crazy lady) starts hyperventilating! I'm so not joking right now. By the way, she's like 30 years old. And of course I'm cracking up. She jokingly told me not to laugh and that she can't help it that she was a 9 year old geek with no friends that loved Transformers. You know I hung around her all day for kicks!!!


So then, as were on the set, they are using these tall skinny poles to simulate where the robots will be when they digitally add them in. They asked Pam to be one of the people crawling on the ground near the scene of destruction, and on her way over there, she had to make sure she touched one of the poles. And on her way back, she stole one of the smaller pieces of foam asphalt as a souvenier!!! Stuffed it right in her purse. Then, they bring out a white semi truck. One of the robots name's is Optimus, and he turns into the semi truck. No joke, she went over and kissed the truck! My stomach hurts at this point she is crackin me up so much.

Next, we have a scene with Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a yellow robot that transforms into a 2006 Camaro. They bring a smaller model of Bumblebee out and Pam starts singing "HALELLUJAH!!" She has no shame and I can see other people looking at her now and laughing. After that scene we break for lunch and she says, "This is the best weekend of my life,
other than the first time I got laid". I laugh and say, "That's good, most people's first time is not a good experience", to which she yells, "I got lucky!!!!" She was crazy for the whole 2 days and I was lovin it. So I told her we would have to see the movie together so we exchanged e-mails. I did this only for my own entertainment. She's going to be an absolute mess during that movie and I can't wait!




It's weird because my roommate made me go see Jackass 2 on Friday, and we saw a preview for Transformers already. I was like, "Whoa, I'm going to be in that movie tomorrow". And can I just say that the Jackass movie was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a long time. It was entertaining, but disturbing. They did some things in that movie that humans just shouldn't do. I mean, I was literally gagging at certain parts it was so nasty. To the right, that is Steve-O letting a leech chomp on his eyeball. That wasn't one of the gagging incidents in the movie. I can't repeat those here because my mom reads this blog, lol.
That's it for now.

Friday, September 22, 2006

They're Workin Me Hard!

After this weekend I will have worked 7 straight days in a row. It's cool, though. You know me and free food don't have any problems! I'm going to list the shows coming up that I'll be on again at the end of this post just as a reminder.

Today I was back on ER again, and what an interesting it turned out to be. First of all, the days working on ER are always long, like 14 hours, but they will only use you for half the time. Just with different scenes they shoot with different extras, you might not be used all the time. Today they use us the whole day, so it was tiring, but I ended up running into a few unexpected people. But before I get into that, first I just want to say the actors were terrible today. I have never seen people mess up lines so much in my entire life. Now, I understand that since they shoot multiple different scenes every day, its harder for a television actor to remember lines. But you would think after 30 takes (and I'm not exaggerating one bit!), the lines would start to stick! Not with these people. It wasn't the main characters, it was the guest actors. I don't know how on earth they got hired!!!

So, on my lunch break, we're sitting outside the stage we were filming on, and who drives up gets out of there car? None other than George Clooney. His office is right next to one of ER's stages. George is COOL. He said hi to us and talked and everything. Everyone likes George Clooney. He is currently filming Ocean's 13 along with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and some others, but we only saw George. Actually, I heard that he plays basketball everyday at Warner Brothers. Later on this evening, his driver came on picked him up.

So, as I was leaving today to go home, I had to walk across the entire studio lot to get to my car, and who do I see hanging out at their trailers? Matthew Perry and D.L. Hughley, who were taping their show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Matthew was telling a story and DL was standing there puffing on a cigar. I didn't stop and talk though. I was tired and really wanted to get home. I'm not one of those people who goes all crazy around celebrities. It's just not a big deal to me (unless it's Mariah Carey, then I'd get all hot and sweaty and start hyperventilating! Ok, maybe not hyperventilate, but some of my organ systems would definitely be shutting down).

All right, don't forget to watch t.v. these next to weeks. I cut my list down to 3, because I decided that in some of the shows I really won't be seen well and who wants to go through the hassle?

1. Vanished -- this is a new show that premiered on Monday, August 21 on Fox. It's an FBI type show. I am in the 6th episode, so the one I'm in should air on September 25, at 9pm on Fox. This episode takes place in Washington D.C. There is a scene where the senator (main character) is coming out of the courthouse and all of the press and journalists are all around trying to talk to him. I play his FBI agent that escorts him out of the courthouse. I have on a gray suit. This is the show where I got the most camera time so far. So make sure to watch. Monday nights, 9pm, Fox.

2. CSI: New York -- I don't know when the 1st episode premieres this fall, but I'm in episode 4. So try and watch for commercials to see when it premieres, on what days and at what times. I play a CSI tech and I have on a green shirt and tie. There's a scene where the main characters in the AVS room (a small room) and I'm "working" right behind them. My back is to the camera, but I kept turning around so the camera could catch my face, lol. I'm not sure if it worked. I think this show comes on Wednesday nights at 10 pm.

3. Help Me Help You -- this is Ted Danson's new comedy, and the mom from Malcolm in the Middle is on the show as well. This show premieres on September 26th, and my episode airs the next week on October 3rd. I play a coffee shop worker (there are 2 of us). So, look for me walking around straightening things up and stuff like that. It's kind of like a Starbucks coffee shop. It's called the "Metro Bean" on the show. However, I don't know yet what station or time the episodes air.

Vanished is the BIG one, so watch it! Now, I'm off to a movie (Jackass #2 with my roommate), just so I can come back and only get 4 hours of sleep because I have to be downtown, on location at 6:45 am for the feature film Transformers! Remember Transformers? Did you guys know they were making a movie? Well, they are and they said we will be running down streets, screaming for our lives from the Transformers. I play a cop. This should be fun. Plus it's the last weekend of shooting for the movie!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

My Desperately Grey Week

How's that for a corny title? It's 12:15 am, and I just got home from being on Criminal Minds with Shemar Moore, so I'm going to make this quick, hopefully.

As you may remember from my last post, I was excited about being on a certain set on Monday, and in case you haven't figured out what it is by now, it was Desperate Housewives. Turns out my day was ruined because I was really hoping Eva Longoria would be working that day, but sadly, she was not. All I got was Marcia Cross. :( We shot on location at a country club and the scene took place in a reataurant. I was just at a table eating. The day was pretty much boring, and Marcia didn't make it any better. She looked good from a distance, but she had SOOO much make-up on, and up close, you can tell she hasn't aged very well. It is amazing what make-up can do for a person. And of course she didn't talk to any of the background people. Typical. There was someone making a guest appearance on the show that day, and I'm sure you know who she is. I can't remember her name, but she was in one of the Scream movies. She was Bill's mother (one of the killers) and she dies at the end of the movie. But you may know her better as Roseanne's sister on Roseanne.

Yesterday was more fun because I was on Grey's Anatomy. Of course I like being on the medical shows. I played an intern and a patient in the same episode. Episode #6, which should air on October 26th. I really liked this set, first and foremost, because they fed us really well, and that's always at the top of my list. Secondly, everyone was pretty cool for the most part.

Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) is really tiny, and didn't speak to any of us, of course. I tried to say hi, and she acted like she didn't see me. But it's ok because a few weeks ago, at the Emmy's, the critics ripped her apart because of her sloppy hairdo, haha. The girl who plays Christina seemed cool, but she looked so serious all the time. The guy who plays Alex, his eyes were really red like he was up all night, and he wreaked of cigarettes. He reminded more of a construction worker than of a doctor. The one thing I liked about this show was that they were really efficient. They set up a scene, did it a few times and moved on. They got a lot done in one day, whereas on other shows sometimes they spend hours on one scene. I won't give any details on what scenes were shot that day though. I won't ruin in for anyone.

On my way home from Grey's, I was driving down Hollywood Blvd, and noticed there were a lot of people there for a Tuesday night. I drive a little further, down to the Chinese Grauman Theatre, and lo and behold, the premiere of Employee of the Month was happening! That's the movie with Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook, who were obviously there. It was my first glimpse of a red carpet since I moved to L.A. Now, I just to find out how to know when there is going to be a premiere, before it happens. I didn't see Jessica or Dane, and I couldn't stop and see what was going on because I was tired and plus there was no parking anywhere near the theatre. Oh well, maybe next time.

I think that pretty much sums up the first part of my week. My bed is calling me because it's been a long day and I have to get up early tomorrow.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Nice Weekend

It's weird how when you think you've seen it all, something new happens. Thursday I was on the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Las Vegas), which of course is filmed in L.A. at Universal Studios. For this scene, I was a night clubber, but we got to shoot it in front of a green screen. It was kind of neat. It felt all high tech and stuff. But it was weird because there was just a blank screen behind us, and there going to put the scene of a club on it for the episode. Also in this scene, a man and a woman get into a fight at the club and the man throws a glass of wine on the woman. The "wine" in the glass was actually this green liquid gel type stuff. They used the gel because anything that is "green" on camera can be digitally altered to make it look like anything you want (which is why we couldn't where any green that day). They obviously had to do multiple takes of this scene and the woman had on a white dress and green gel all over it. But it didn't matter because they could just digitally remove it when they make the final edit. It was cool Hollywood technology in full force.


Yesterday I went exploring L.A. My friend, Eunice, who I know from OSU and now lives in Chicago was in town for a friend's birthday party. We met up and went hiking at Griffith Park. Griffith Park, for anyone who doesn't know, is a huge park area in the hollywood hills. There are numerous hiking trails, picnic areas, horseback riding, and the Los Angeles Zoo is here. In the picture to the left, I'm pretty much standing next to the Hollywood sign. You can see Griffith Observatory with dowtown L.A. in the background. There are such great views of the entire city from these hills, but once again, it is pointless to post the pictures because the smog and haze kind of drown everything out.


We went on a short hiking trail to the "Old Zoo" which was built in 1912 and used to house lions, tigers, elephants, etc. The cages were really small and made out of stone. It was also sad to see the amount of grafitti on everything, as you can see on one of the cages to the right. I can't believe people have nothing better to do than to go spray paint some old vacant cages at a park. They actually had to shut off the hiking trail that goes to the Hollywood sign because they had too many graffiti problems in the past. After Griffith Park we drove along Mulholland Drive. It really is a nice drive that you can do over and over again.

After all that we headed to the Santa Monica Pier to eat and just hang out. We got there just in time to see the sunset that you see at the right. This one is for Sheila. I know how much she misses them. It really is beautiful sight, especially for someone like me who's never lived near an ocean. For those who haven't been to L.A. or don't know what the Santa Monica Pier is, it's a pier that goes out into the water, obviously. It's basically a small amusement park on a pier. There are restaurants, coffee shops, games, a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, artisits, and lots of people fishing from it. Do you recognize the lifeguard hut in the picture? On these beaches, about 2 miles north, in the Pacific Palisades, is where Baywatch was filmed. The mountain that you see in the distance is Malibu. The beachfront property in Santa Monica is really nice. The houses, or condos, or whatever you want to call them, are skinny and 3 levels (to fit more in I guess). And they all have winding stair cases on the outside that go up to each level, and then up to the roof where there is a sun deck and sometimes a pool. I could definitely see one of these being a beginner house for me, but not in Santa Monica. There are way too many tourists. I don't want all those people walking right in front of my place all day.
That's all I have. I'm booked on a show tomorrow that could be potentially very exciting if a certain person is working, but I'm not going to say who or what yet. I'll post midweek and say whether I got my wish or if I was let down. Oh, and for anyone out there wondering, I'm not talking about Mariah Carey!! She is still on tour. Yes, she is my #1, but I do have other celebrity crushes, so there!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Crazy Week So Far

I didn't realize how easy it was to post pictures on here. I thought it would have been a hassle. So, now I can start putting some pics on here to liven up my blog I guess. I'll post some right after I speak about some of the crazy stuff that happened this week.

For the last 2 days I have been on a movie set and it has been BORING!!! The scene was shot in a theatre and we were watching John Malkovich do magic tricks all day. Fourteen hours of sitting in a chair clapping all day is freakin torture. I wanted to drink acid by the days end! However, it never fails that I meet some weirdos!

First was this man sitting at the same table as me at lunch. Luckily, this time he wasn't talking to me, because he was one of those people that are uncomfotable with silence, so they start volunteering information that nobody wants to hear about. Example: He says out loud, "I didn't work yesterday". Somebody else asked "Why?", to which he replied, "I was at a nudist camp!" Ahhhh.....WHYYYYYY??? This man was like 50 years old, scraggly, and his skin looked like genuine rawhide leather. Why would anyone want to picture that? So, no one says anything, and he decides he's going to tell some jokes. I can't remember the first one, but his second joke was (and I'm NOT kidding), "Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?" Somebody says they don't know. His answer is, "Because he was dead". WTF!!! Nobody even smiled at that dumb ass joke. And the the guy goes, "I'm thinking my jokes aren't funny!" YA THINK!!! Then he starts making comments about how he needs a massage and he's gonna take off his pants and get up on the table. I wasn't lying when I said ANYONE off the streets can sign up to do background work!!

Then there was this lovely old lady who sat next to me in the theatre who grossed me the hell out. AFTER lunch when we were back on the set, in the theatre, is when she decides to break out her floss!! She flosses a few teeth, then lays the floss down on her lap, on her dress. Then she flosses some more, and lays it back down, then flosses some more. I'm already kind of grossed out, but next thing I know, she's picking up a tissue to blow her nose, and the now multi-colored piece of floss is hanging from her tissue! YUCK!!! Then she did something that cracked me up. We're in a theatre, but it's a restaurant setting, so we're sitting at tables, maybe 6 to a table. We all have drinks to make the scene look real. Some people have wine glasses filled with sparkling grape juice, some people have other kinds of drinks. They are props for us, and we're not supposed to drink out of the (probably dirty) cups. But she's been drinking hers all morning. So, she decides she wants to pour her water into her cup. While the man on the other side of her wasn't looking, she poured her half drunk grape juice into his cup! I swear I could not make up these stories! This is L.A.

Two other crazy things happened on set. This morning a lady collapsed and the ambulance had to be called. It was scary, but she was ok. Then later in the afternoon, an over head light exploded and the glass came crashing down to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt. but the reminds about something about these lights. Have you ever heard of actors complaining of working under hot light all day? I used to think they were being dramatic, but it's true. Those suckers get HOT. That's why they keep the air on in the studios right around 55 degrees. I mean, one day on set, I walked in front of one of the big lights on set. You know how you watch tv and the scene may be in someone's living room and you see the skyline of a city through a window in the house? Well, of course its not real. It's a huge backdrop in the studio lit up by huge lights on the ground. The lighta are maybe 5 feet in diameter. Well, when I walked in front of one, I thought the side of my face was going to melt off! Seriously, I at least thought my shirt was going to catch on fire. It was that hot.

Last crazy thing of the week. Monday I was on CSI: New York and we were shooting on location in an apartment building in downtown L.A. I read an article today that said a real mummified body was found in the building yesterday (Tuesday) one floor below where they were still shooting. Someone went to check on the tenant who hadn't paid rent in a while. Isn't that kinda freaky?

Ok, a few pics because I'm tired of typing!














St. Louis Arch on my way to L.A.

















This is the tram that takes you up to the Getty
Center, a huge museum that contains authentic
paintings, artwork, and artifacts dating back to
the Middle Ages. The Getty Center is in the
background .
View from the Getty Center looking
southeast. That little city is either
Brentwood or Westwood, I'm not
sure. Can you see the band of
smog?
**Once again my pictures and captions are distorted. I'll figure this out one day!**

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Doin My Thing in L.A.




I finally got both of my pictures fully printed and duplicated. So here they are. If you're on facebook or myspace then you have seen these already, but those were the un-retouched pictures. These ones are the final editions, retouched. Hopefully there isn't much of a difference. I told the photo lab to be subtle with it! Now I can continue to look for an agent by mailing my pictures out. The one on the left is the "commercial" shot. It's used to get auditions for commericals, obviously. It's supposed to be smiley and natural and show your personality, blah blah blah. The one on the right is the theatrical shot and it is supposed to be more serious and show your "type", meaning the kind of character you would play on a project. My "type", according to some of the experienced photographers that I spoke to, is the young business exec, young adult, or college student. I can also play under 18. That's why I chose to use the shirt with the loose tie. It's more serious, more studious, more mature. So what do you guys think?? You think I have even the slimmest chance of getting lucky? It's going to be really tough, but I knew that coming here. But pleeeaaassse pray for me cuz I don't wanna go back to Ohio!!! haha

As far as the end of this week is concerned, it wasn't too busy. I was on the set of a show yesterday called Happy Hour which is a new comedy. It seems like it might be pretty funny actually.

And as for tonight, I can't wait to see Ohio State kick Texas's ass!!! This is going to be revenge from last year.

I really can't think of anything else to say except GO BUCKS!!!

haha.....I got this pic from my friend Kelli's myspace page. It says enough!

**UPDATE --> Everything got distorted because the space available when I'm typing is not the same amount of space available when the blog posts!! I know, I suck. I should be smarter than the computer. Oh well!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

What A Crappy Day, Literally!!!

I'll get to my crappy day in a second. I have a few other things to say first. First off, Afrah is here!!!!! For those of you who know Afrah, she finally made it to L.A., to live. Now we can hang out, have fun in the sun, and enjoy not being in the midwest.

Secondly, I had a good Labor Day Weekend. I relaxed, and on Labor Day I went to some Brazilian restaurant with some friends where we all basically ordered American food. But it was sooo good. However, my Labor Day good spirits were RUINED today when I called my dear colleague, Candace H. Candace is one of my fellow med school classmates. I called her up, and she didn't even know who I was. she didn't even recognize my voice. What is happening?? Am I being forgotten that quickly. Was I nothing more than a fleeting memory in everyone's mind? I was so hurt, haha. Claudine, you better get on Candace about this issue!!!

Now on to my literally crappy day. Today I taped an episode of Bones, starring David Boreanaz. More on him in a minute. I have never seen this show, but it is apparently another one of those FBI shows. There are a lot of those now. Anyways, when I got the call from my casting agency to do this show, they said we would be filming at a water treatment plant near LAX. Much to everyone's dismay, it was actually a SEWAGE treatment plant. BIG DIFFERENCE! Let me describe this place for you!!! It is right on the ocean, right next to the airport. The only good thing about this day was seeing big Jumbo Jets taking off from the airport. Anyways, we pull into this plant, and the smell almost cinged my nose hairs. Picture this: A huge, round, concrete pool about 60 feet in diameter filled with diarrhea. Each pool holds about 10,000 gallons and there are about 20 of them!! 20 pools of brown diarrhea. Thousands upon thousands of gallons!! Each pool has 2 metal walkways, forming the shape of a cross, just about 5 feet above the liquid crap. Guess where the scene was shot?? Yep, right in the center of one of these walkways!

So, we're pulling into the plant in the shuttle van, all grossed out and stuff. We get out of the van and there are seagulls........playing.......in the pools.............of crap!! They were dunking their heads in it and everything. I was already nauseated at this point. So then we have to get out of the van and walk to the center of one of the walkways so we can start shooting. To make things even nastier, each pool of crap also contains 4 metal rods that start from the center and radiate outward to the perimeter. These rods slowly turn to mix everything up in the pools. Are you sick yet?? I'm sick just writing about this and I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet.

As we're walking down the walkway to the center of the pool of diarrhea, naturally we look over the railing to see what that stuff looks like. Lo and behold!! It's mostly brown, diarrhea water with bubbles in it, but there is also an occasional floating piece of green or brown solid piece of SOMETHING!! I swear my gag reflex was kicking in by now. We get to the center, still looking over the edge (why u might ask?? The hell if I know!). Then we see something else. Now, as I said, there are about 20 of these pools on this lot. Go figure that the ONE pool they choose to shoot the scene on has a CONDOM floating in it!!!!!! I am not lying to you!! It looked like a magnum (because I obviously know what those look like, lol). It was sick. And to top it all off, we were there shooting the scene for over 6 hours!!! Can anyone sympathize with me here?!?!! And that folks, was the start of my crappy day.

Other things about the show: David Boreanaz can cuss up a storm. On more than one occasion i hear him dropping the F bomb because something wasn't done the way he wanted. He also whined alot about camera angles and stuff. I wanted to tell him to just shut the hell up because there is nothing more annoying than a whiny C-list celebrity!! My day ended up being 15 hours on the set because we had to shoot a scene in a hotel. It took place at a girls' beauty pageant. So, obviously there are tons of little girls there in caked on make-up and teased hair out to nowhere. I have to say that stuff is NOT "beautiful" to me. I personally think beauty pageants consist of a bunch of stage moms who are trying to live vicariously through their daughters. Seriously, most of the moms were fat and nasty and there is no way in hell I'm letting my wife doll up my eight year old daughter to do that crap. It ain't happenin! Don't ask me why, but in this scene they made me play a dad. Clean shaven, I look like I'm 16 on camera, so who knows whose bright idea that was.

Ok, it's 12:45 a.m. and I am dead tired now. Damn, I was posting this midweek so that it wouldn't be that long, but who knew the kind of crappy day I'd have today. I had to tell the story. I came home and took the LONGEST shower ever, haha. Now, I'm hittin the sack!!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

I Don't Know What to Title This One

I want to start off by saying that this post is probably going to be long, but it will be the LAST really long one. I kinda don't like sitting here and typing a book every time. Plus, I was reading through my own blog last night and even I got tired of reading a really long entry. So, once again, I'm going to try to post shorter blogs more often. I think people might like that better. I'm going to try to do a minimum of two per week, one on the weekend and one midweek, maybe more if exciting things happen.

This brings me to my next point. Just wanted to say I appreciate the comments whether they're on here or on facebook or myspace. Everyone enjoys feedback, right? And I usually try to respond. Also, a special thanks to Justin M. for helping me get my blog together. When I first created this thing, I didn't know what the heck I was doing and he explained the whole process to me.

On to my week. Topics covered in this blog: Mulholland Drive, Ohio connections, Matthew Perry, and Steve Carrell.

The other day, my friends and I took a drive down Mulholland. For those who don't know, let me try and explain. Everyone knows the Hollywood sign is on the side of a mountain, right? That mountain range is part of the Santa Monica mountains. They stretch from the ocean all the way east almost to downtown (about 20-25 miles). Half way between the coast and downtown L.A. is where I live at the base of one of the mountains, or hills rather, on the south side of the hills. Over the hills, to the north, is the San Fernando Valley which is flat and hot. There are a few roads here and there that run north and south through the mountains connecting greater L.A. with the Valley. Then there is Mulholland Drive. It runs east and west over top of the mountains. So, driving up there, you see great views of L.A. and of the Valley. This is also where all of the mansions are. I always saw these houses on shows like "Cribs" on MTV and wondered where they were and how you get there. Now I know. Those are some HUGE houses up there. Some look so modern they look like they belong on the moon or something. It was really cool seeing the views from the city up there and its no wonder everyone wants to live there. Hopefully I will one day. Although, I would have to have another house somewhere like in Beverly Hills or something because we didn't see any kind of shops or grocery stores up there. Plus, I'd probably get tired of driving up those windy roads everyday just to get to my place. But then again, I might not!

Next thing is all the references to Ohio I've been seeing. It's really weird actually. I've seen an Ohio St. here, a Dayton St., and many references to Ohio in movies. I was on a set the other day reading a newspaper (USA Today, I think) and there was an article about Hilton Head Island and how it is all environmentally safe and stuff. There was a picture of a couple walking on the beach and the caption said they were from Oxford, Ohio. Oxford is such a small town in Ohio and its home to Miami University where I went to college, so I thought, what are the chances of that. Skip ahead a few pages in the same newspaper and there is an article about someone traveling across the country sampling food at restaurants. This particular day the article was about food in Columbus, Ohio and they were talking about a restaurant in Upper Arlington, which is basically where I lived last year. At this point I had to just put the newspaper down. I really hope these were signs to just help me not forget where I came from as opposed to signs that I'm supposed to go back to Ohio. That ain't happenin!!! haha

Now to the work week. I was on two shows this week. One of them is Matthew Perry's new show. It's called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I guess it is a spoof on sketch comedy shows like SNL and MAD TV. They do some skits, but then you see what goes on behind the scenes or something. Regardless, this show absolutely sucked to work on. I just played an audience member, so it basically consisted of us sitting there and clapping all day. And that day was a 12 hour day. Matthew wasn't working on that particular day, but he did come in briefly and watched. He seems cool, and he had a bit of an entourage with him. One was his personal assistant, and when they came into the studio, he took of his jacket and hung it on her shoulder, and she was also holding a drink for him too. It was funny. As for his appearance, all I can say is that make-up is a wonderful thing for Hollywood. I'm not trying to be mean, just truthful. And the truth is that his years of drinking have really taken a toll on his appearance. For anyone out there who drinks on a regular basis, I suggest you stop now, unless you can afford a make-up team to make you look great everyday.

Thursday and Friday I worked on The Office with Steve Carrell. It was fun because we shot on location at the Burbank Hilton Hotel. The scene took place at a convention in a hotel lobby where a whole bunch of businesses set up booths, etc. Well, they actually brought in real companies, including microsoft, symantec, nokia, and a lot more. And these companies brought all their real stuff, so as a bonus we got a whole bunch of free stuff that day. I've never watched The Office before, but I think I'm going to start. Steve is really funny and I was cracking up at some of the scenes they were shooting. One thing about Steve though. I know it must get frustrating for comedians and comedic actors because we always see them being funny and stupid on tv, and we assume that they're always like that. But in reality, they are just like us and they have bad days, and some aren't the happy-go-lucky personalities they portray on tv at all. It's just acting. I don't quite know what Steve's deal is, but he is one of those actors that when the director says "Cut!", he turns it OFF, quick. In between takes I don't even think I saw Steve smile once. He walked around looking really serious, almost evil sometimes. Maybe he was just trying to stay focused and remember his lines, maybe he is just a serious person in real life. Your guess is as good as mine. I wonder what Jim Carrey is like in person. I heard Will Ferrell is a goof ball off camera. Oh well, to each his own.

I told you this blog was going to be long and I actually had to type it in two segments. I think that's all I have to say, other than that I'm finally getting the hang of the traffic patterns here. So when I go somewhere now, I get there pretty much on time. Not 45 minutes early, not 5 minutes late.